Later Piano Solo Pieces

Well, here I'm talking about 2017 and 2018.  One of the pieces is based on a 5 note scale and all the other ones on an 8 note scale. 

Traumerei

A Traum in German is a dream.  A Traumerei is being in a dream state, sort of a day dream.  Somehow the German word sounded to me a little more interesting.

This piece is based on a 5 note scale.  My tutor had selected a couple of 5 note sets for me to play with and when I came up with this one he was rather surprised and told me that it was very interesting I had been able to come up with something worthwhile listening to.  Mind you, I believe that when 5 notes could belong to a minor mode key you can always come up with something interesting.  I used the same idea in the third movement of my third trio, having first converted it to the third octatonic scale.

Musings

The first and the last of them were written using all of the 3 possible 8 note scales.  I found it interesting to create harmonies that could move from one of these scales to another.

The second piece uses only one of the 8 note scales.  I had written it before I did the other 2, but thought this one would provide a nice contrast to the other ones.  I did “cheat” with the very last note by bringing the peace to an end on the note of “g” even though in the scale I used there is no such note as a g.  I thought it was fun to try to fool my tutor.

Sweet Nothing

I wrote this piece after a session with my tutor.  He is brilliant at the piano, unlike me and had mentioned how really good piano players could play anything sight unseen (in German “vom Blatt spielen”). There is of course some truth in the fact that it helps to be able to play an instrument well when composing for that instrument.  Since I don’t play any instrument well, I hopefully will get advice from those that do.

The implication that someone like me who was not a good piano player could not really write something decent for the piano, posed a challenge I could not resist.

Well, I thought, I show you!  I started with a very harmless melodic line in the easiest of scales, C Major, so easy that Alexandra, my 7 year old granddaughter, who has just started learning the piano could probably play it.  But then things pick up and it gets quite fast.  To make it more challenging for the piano player I asked for the fastest parts to be played pianissimo, which is a lot harder than playing it loud. I called it Sweet Nothing, implying nothing really difficult.

When I showed it next time to my tutor he did not volunteer to play it.  I suspect that it is not “on” to play a game on your tutor?

I am sure there is potential to improve on the harmonies, but I still think it is a fun piece!

Experimenting

I had a semester learning about the music of Debussy, Stravinsky and Bartok.  During that time I also used the Internet and YouTube to learn about Messiaen.

It was interesting to try to compose like them, because in some way your own style and preferences become evident.

I had fun doing this.  The piece is broken into 4 sections, each with a “musical time machine” setting the scene as a short introduction.  Because of these composers you are permitted to try your hand at interesting experiments. 

One of the pieces uses a 5 tone scale, another an 8 note scale and in one I made up a scale that stretches over 2 octaves without any note repeating.  In one I tell the pianist to play like a Matador, but I am certain the computer program that plays it here did not know what to do.  Each section tries to pass the theme to the next one (sort of!)

I hope you have enjoyed my music! I'd love to hear your comments. Feel free to leave a comment below or send me your comments here.